AMD claims progress on turnaround

SAN FRANCISCO—Rory Read, president and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), said Tuesday (Jan. 22) that the company continues to make progress on its strategy for returning to profitability after the company reported fourth quarter sales that beat analysts' expectations but said it expects first quarter sales to be below estimates.

"We made progress in the fourth quarter delivering on our commitments, managing expense and cash, and beginning to transform AMD for long term growth and profitability," Read told analysts on a conference call following the fourth quarter report. Read said AMD increased its cash flow, reduced excess inventory and lowered operating expenses in the fourth quarter "in the face of a difficult market."

But Read acknowledged that AMD's full-year results fell short of expectations as a tough economy hurt PC sales. AMD plans to complete the majority of a significant restructuring announced last year during the first quarter, Read said. The company's goal is to reduce its operating expenses by 25 percent from early 2012 levels by the third quarter, and to return to profitability and positive cash flow by the second half of this year, he said.

AMD havent even taken a shot at the mobile market! Their current strategy is to reduce the cost anyhow..layoff people, ditch fab.. will work for a while, But without new products I am not sure If AMD can survive for long..

I always liked AMD so I wish them well. I am looking forward to being able to buy their embedded/low power products, similarly to how one can buy a SoC-based ARM solution or an Intel Atom and VIA motherboard. I wonder if they'll make boards themselves or have someone else do it, especially considering that Intel just announced that they'll stop making boards.